Grove 素林 Asam Laksa Vegetarian

Came here to have a late breakfast/lunch. Wanted to have Bread and Egg Set, but was told that Egg need 1 hour to prepare. 🤔 Nevertheless, i ordered my usual favourite vegetarian Hainanese Chicken Cutlet Rice. My wife ordered their asam curry which is a first, i went to take a sip. 😆 Really not that bad. She also tried it and said that it was good. The rice is normal but probaby the best presentation they had done. 😅

Happy Birthday to my Wife :)

Happy Birthday to my wife 🥳 Busy day everyday and tiring routine accompany us through the day, but will never stop us to pause a while to get a mini celebration. Bought a white tiramisu cake from Chateraise from Novena Square. As this cake is sold out on the shelves, they actually do have spare in their freezer. So fortunately there is, but it is frozen. As it a one hour trip home, leave it in the box in room temperature. At the time of eating, it is abit soft, but still a little frozen from the inside. Had a small slice and kept it in the fridge to eat for the next few days.

Topping up my umobile prepaid card / 5G Network

Having to keep my umobile number for several years or even for the past decade, using umobile had been easy and good value. Recent years, they don't sell the top up card, but rather print out receipt to top up. Even at the umobile store, you can top up the value straight to your malaysia number. In Singapore, i'm using Starhub Postpaid $20 Sims-only plan, but is only 4G. They do offer 5G variant at a higher price. As i just went in Malaysia and utilize my umobile line again, this time, my Samsung Z Fold 4 which is also one of the fastest device in the world using 5G network, i experienced 5G in Malaysia. 😅 The speed were great even in jb custom. Wow shiok leh !

Emart24 @ Jurong Point

Oh man, how i wish that Emart24 comes to Canberra Plaza, but that was subjective though. Anyway, its a new concept stall based in Korea that is in Singapore. I found these products that were interesting and went to buy it. So far, i tested both Strawberry and Americano. It was great ! I didn't went to add ice to it, and drank it from a paper cup. It tasted very well and solid. Definitely recommended to get it when you are at the store.

Common Kopitiam opposite of KSL Mall

Another common kopitiam store while waiting for Soon Soon Bak Kut Teh store to open. We reached too early and decided to have Roti Canai and Nasi Lemak as a breakfast appetizer. Roti Canai was so-so, but the chicken curry was better than expected. Nasi Lemak was streaming hot when it was served. The taste of the nasi lemak rice, egg and sambal were better than average. 

KopiTiam Lautan Taman Pelangi [JB 2023]

While waiting for the baby shop opposite to open, i had a second round of breakfast at this common kopitiam in JB. My wife ordered the minced pork soup with dry noodle, soup and noodles were not bad. What i like about it, was the big pieces of fish slices. I ordered Stir Fried Mee with Fried Chicken. Fried Chicken were big, but taste normal. Noodles were delicious ! Beside this store, have many other chicken rice options there.

Singapore's Core Inflation unchanged at 5.1%

Extracted from Channel News Asia

With this kind of core inflation at 5.1% and increased overall expenses, salary had been pretty bad. Increment, promotion and everything is either delay or put on hold. If one does not do anything to increase, who will even care about you? Even job is inflated, more tasks and work for you to tank, but not paid. Putting the inflation and increases expenses, in fact our salary or money goes down in value. 😥

Made in Japan Garlic - Don Don Donki

Bought the probably most expensive Garlic for $5.90 in Don Don Donki. Local Supermarket normally costs only SGD$1.00+. Problem is all local supermarket is closed at 10pm now, so my only option is Don Don Donki and i need garlic urgently. Hence we bought this and cook bee hoon the next day. Oh well, it tasted the same. 😅

Fish & Co on the first day of Lunar New Year

After being outside for a very long day, we had fish & Co at Novena Square at 9pm. 30 minutes prior to closing time at the outlet. My wife ordered "Best Fish & Chip" and I ordered my long time favourite "New York Fish & Chip". We ordered the main dishes with the soup set and happened that Mushroom Soup is the soup of the day. However, i did a silly move and cause my mushroom soup to fell. There goes 3/4 of my mushroom soup 😮‍💨| However, my new york fish and chip is still the best. In terms of quality, dropped abit, but still good. Total damage is SGD$66.41. 

Don Don Donki Membership Birthday Voucher

Another discount voucher that I had utilized for this birthday month. For Don Don Donki membership which is free, it is great that a $5 voucher is given to customers to buy stuffs from them. Luckily i had something to buy and the $5 really is useful. Hope more shops do offer such promotions and provide every birthday person a special time to purchase from them.

Yearly Routine of claiming all Birthday Month's Redemption - KOI

As usual, had to redeem all discount or free stuffs during my birthday month. It is always these little things that make people happy. So got myself the Ovaltine Macchiato and treat my wife the Peach Yakult Juice. It is also this time to specially picked the most expensive option to try them.

Loyang Dua Pek Kong Temple CNY Part 2

Year of the rabbit, but saw chicken roaming around the temple. For the year of the rabbit, i felt there are challenges coming and my stance for this year is to kill off the challenges as fast as possible. Hence, i will be more hot tempered to push things and escalate things faster to get things done faster. For the three coins above, i tried two attempts and didn't manage to hit the bell. Therefore going to be a tough year ahead. 😣

Loyang Dua Pek Kong CNY 2023

As usual, came to Loyang Tua Pek Kong to pray for better family safety, health and better wealth. Once again, queue to get the Loyang Tua Pek Kong gold coin and ang pow with individual lucky 4D number :) Rainy day when i came on the first lunar chinese new year and there were still crowd at the temple. Pray and contribute to oil this year.

Simple Chilli Pan Mian @ Jurong Point Malaysia Boleh

Think i posted this as i had eaten these for a few years now. So far, malaysia boleh Chilli Ban Mian is simply delicious. So i ate this at the Jurong Point branch while visiting relatives for CNY. Added the additional Tau Kee at 80 cents together with a good cup of Kopi O Kosong is just awesome. Becoming more careful of financial this year.

Reunion Dinner 2023

This time again, we are having home-cooked meals for our reunion dinner again prepared by my dad. Tried to book several restaurants 2 weeks before, but all were fully booked. Next time got to plan early and probably book months before. But then it still meet the purpose and still have many leftovers after the meal. 

Lo Hei 2023

As usual during our annual CNY reunion dinner, we will have our Lo-Hei to celebrate the incoming year of the rabbit 2023. This time round is from itacho sushi and i got to say that the portion of the salmon sashimi is good. Overall is quite ok and i think it costs around SGD$30+.

CNY 2023 Drinks

Just before CNY, managed to get tons of can drinks as usual and i can say this is the best deal at 40cents a can. Considering GST of 8% implemented this year, not all are negative news. Bought 4 x 12 cans of Coke Zero and Coke Light. 😄

Happy Lunar New Year ! [2023]

Happy Chinese New Year 2023 to all ! Let's welcome the year of rabbit with open arms :) All the rabbits at Chinatown are in the limelight as usual with all the other animals. Since it is the first day of Lunar New Year will try to start my first two meals with vegetarian. Time to do more important things this year and really need to increase the overall income.

Chinese New Year Reunion Day !

Happy Chinese New Year Eve to all ! Some of us will be working through the day or even through the entire chinese new year including me, wish everyone a happy chinese new year ahead ! Lelong lelong ! So everywhere especially Bugis and Chinatown are filled up with people doing last minute shopping today ! As least we still have cheap alternatives where we can fill up the home with cheap cny cookies as above. Saw this at Bugis area where many people really buy a lot of cookies or pastry. Let's countdown till midnight for the tiger to handover his duties to the year of rabbit 2023 lunar new year !

Magnolia Fresh Milk Price increase

Once again, price increase yet again for Magnolia Fresh Milk. Currently it is going for 2 for SGD$6.30 which a unit price is SGD$3.15. I had since reduce or no longer buy Fresh Milk for consumption. I felt its hard for me to take it in. Nowadays, walking around supermarket and looking at some products' price can be quite disappointing. Just the old saying, let's see how....

Chee Cheong Fun [Coss Food]

Chee Cheong Fun 300g packet selling at Sheng Siong Supermarket. One of my wife favourite price had just gone up from SGD$2.55 to SGD$3.05. A 0.50 cents increase, but no choice, still need to eat. Based on my wife, she had been eating this for a few years. But think still worthy for its price.

Mixue ice-cream and shakes

First time trying this as my ex-classmates wanted to go for cheap ice-cream. So we ordered each a sundae ice cream each as there is a promotion at 50% off the second sundae. So each of us is paying $1.50 each. After trying this, i was thinking even at the original price of $2 each is a steal ! The Sundae in both quality and quantity were great ! It definitely damn worth it for its price, because it is quality ice cream. Definitely thumbs up for Mixue and recommend everyone to drop by and try it themselves !

Bill Gates still using Samsung Z Fold 4 upgraded from Z Fold 3

As a user of Samsung Z Fold 4 since the day 1 launch, Z fold 4 is indeed a very impressive device. I totally utilize my iPhone 13 Pro Max lesser, because the Z Fold 4 is able to meet every expectation and specification of productivity. Hence it is the king of productivity device in 2022. Hope to see more good improvement in the Z fold 5 coming out by end of 2023 :)

Ah Chew Desserts - Rock Sugar White Fungus Payaya & Black Sesame paste

Came here for a simple dessert and ordered the Rock Sugar white fungus payaya and black sesame paste with rice balls. This place had been operating for a very long time and i remember visiting this place like in 2006 which is like 17 years ago. The amazing part was the place looks still very much the same. As of now, they are still operating till midnight almost everyday. I can say their dessert are still as good today.

Tanjong Rhu Wanton Noodles @ United Square

Ordered the Tanjong Rhu Abalone Wanton Noodles located at Food Dynasty Food Court @ United Square. Cost me around SGD$9.80 for their most premium selection on their menu. Unfortunately, felt a little disappointed at the overall dish at its price. The two pieces of abalone was certainly great and the rest of the standard is not really nice. Definitely not something i am going to try it again.

Sedap! @ Goldhill Centre

This place is hidden right beside United Square, located at Goldhill Centre. They do sell nasi lemak and many other food stuffs. The great stuffs i tried is the Rice, Chicken Wing and the chilli. They offered many variants of chilli from several countries for you to choose from. Otak wise is ok, but abit on the costier side. But the looks and taste, Otak is probably made in house. Overall this plate of Nasi Lemak is great, but considering the price and location, still acceptable.

Ng Kuan Chilli Pan Mee @ Rochor

Ate this with my colleagues. Decided to order one mee hoon kuay with chicken cutlet, but they said mee hoob kuay was sold out. So get the ban mian variant instead. Soup is normal. Chicken Cutlet is very average. But the bowl of ban mian is not bad, i would give a 7/10 due to its quantity and price of $7.80 for this. Taste wise is really not bad. But definitely not a go to place for lunch, personally not for me as i need something more heavier for lunch.

Exceeded my Starhub Data - A first in 2023

Used to be sufficient for 60GB usage of data plan. Just exceeded 60GB this time and currently at 61.16GB so Starhub is charging me for additional $10 per 1GB and gosh this is really painful. I'm actually left with 4 more days to reset back to 60GB soon. Just had to tahan and reduce usage on my data plan. Might be looking to increase my plan as well.

Songfa Bak Gut Teh with $5 Birthday Voucher

Managed to dig out one $5 voucher and also craving for Pork Ribs Soup for dinner. We managed to refill the soup three times and really enjoy the broth. Usually i will order the large premium pork ribs, but unfortunately they were sold out. So i had to order the standard pork ribs. For my honest review, the standard pork ribs meat isn't great. It have a heavier porky taste and flesh is kinda hard. Definitely try their premium pork ribs, will not go wrong !

Tribute to Mr Sim Wong Hoo - CEO of Creative technologies

As a user of Creative Technologies, I had always supported Creative products since the early 2000s. From Creative MuVo TX FM till today, i still buy Creative Pebble Plus, which is a 2.1 USB Desktop Speakers with Subwoofer connected to my Desktop Rig. I always love our very home grown products. I still remember that I fully uses their Creative MuVo TX during schooling for listening to mp3 and also make use of its USB drive to store temp files. I even uses it very hard till it spolit, and buy the same one again and again. It is sad to see such wonderful person to pass on and hope that Creative Technologies still carry on the legacy of good products and affordability. Always respect Mr Sim Wong Hoo, a fellow Singaporean !

Ah Gong Teochew Noodle [Bukit Canberra]

Ordered their signature ah gong dry noodles @ SGD$4. Stall asked me what noodles i want. I said Mee Kia as usual, but he said not yet do the mee kia, so i just settle for the "shou" yellow noodles instead. Portion is okay, but i tried all the ingredients, not something to shout about. Vinegar abit too much for my liking. Soup base have no flavour at all. Mmm, similarly, i will be giving one more chance to try out their Signature Special Ah Gong Noodles again the next time and hope it can be better.

Rolex Watches Price increases again !

Source Taken from Wrist Advisor

Oh gosh, almost everything is increasing in prices. Even Rolex Luxury Watches were not spared as well. 😕 However, the reason of price increase were largely due to precious metal cost. Waiting for prices to fall is difficult. Therefore spend wisely and spend on something which give you value and not just for show. Hence my decision of getting a Rolex still remains.

Tempted to use City Chain Voucher !!

Yeah its my birthday month, so was given by City Chain a Birthday Voucher of $200 to get a $600 watch and above. Just nice my box is shortage of one more watch to add to my collection. Besides waiting for my AD to inform me once my Rolex Submariner arrived, i'm looking for a simple Seiko Automatic Diver's watch 200m, preferably with black dial. Problem is i wanted to get the latest Seiko 5 GMT Automatic, BUT is it sold out. I have myself till end of the month to decide. Till then, let's see what will be next to fill up my current watch box.

Pakcik Kampung Satay [Bukit Canberra]

Testing it out for some supper and tabao some freshly made Satay from this store over at Bukit Canberra. Together with its controversial biodegradable container, it costs around SGD$9.30 for 10 sticks of Chicken Satays and one rice. I definitely like the texture of this chicken satay as it is so soft and tender. Melt in your mouth kind. Satay sauce is decent and the rice is ok. Overall, i think its best to eat it over at the hawker center to enjoy its best quality level.

328 Katong Laksa @ United Square

Simple meal of the biggest bowl of 328 Katong Laksa located just outside United Square. Treat by my wife after our busy errand. Although this is not the place of origin for the 328 Katong Laksa, the quality and familarity of the bowl still exists ! It is still delicious, but at the price of SGD$8.30. Both quality and quantity is all acceptable at its current price. Cosy place with practically no one there. Perfect for a person like me who hate crowds.

Special thanks to my wife for the special selection

Thanks to my wife for the surprise birthday cake yesterday. Hope my wishes will come true which is the most important. Golden Moments' Durian cake really uses 100% durian for their cakes. It is solid, but kinda meet the price and quality standards of today's cake value. Though its a little sad that i had aged another year, but felt that whatever i do does show some progression. This is a more challenging 2023, but definitely a very fulfilling year. Hope to see more positive outcomes than negative problems. 💪Thanks all for those private messages ;)

Happy Birthday to Myself :D

Thanks to my wife, she already bought me a GoPro Hero 11 as my birthday gift. Above picture doesn't mean that I bought a Grand Seiko yet. Just to reaffirm whether to go for this at SGD$8007 or straight to Rolex Submariner at SGD$12,340. Well, I got to say I like Grand Seiko just because of its Spring Drive movement, but I don't like the fact to pay SGD$1000+ to send back to Japan for the servicing. Henceforth I had already been on the waiting list to wait for my Rolex Submariner at retail price this year. Already reserve and set aside SGD$14000 cash to bring down to the AD the moment they call. Wish me luck !

[Clash Royale] Finally reach Grand Champion Ranking

Finally reached a new milestone right on 1st Jan 2023 for my Clash Royale account. Had been playing and maintained Clan Singapore as the Leader of 50 active players after leadership was handed to me for nearly 2 years now. There certainly pressure to maintain my ranking, it took me nearly one month + to reach Grand Champion at Path of Legends. So it is time for me to play hard to bring up the Trophies for Trophy Road.

Happy New Year 2023 to All !

Happy New Year 2023 to all and every human race are continuing to work harder and prosper into the new year. It is always a tradition to get used to writing or typing the current year 2023 instead of the previous year. Key note this year is to reduce expenditure and increase more revenue !

So late last year i end it with chicken rice. Beginning 2023, i have to begin with chicken rice as well ! Ah Tai Chicken Rice which is located inside Maxwell Hawker Centre, they are located beside the long queue next to Tian Tian Chicken Rice. Most foreigners will queue for Tian Tian, but i have to say, i tried both Tian Tian and Ah Tai and my favourite choice goes to Ah Tai Chicken Rice. Not only its sauce and chicken were tender and yummy, their rice is also infused with the chicken essence which i personally give a 9.0/10 for their chicken rice. Tian Tian is using a thicker sauce which i think is not that great, but of course their chicken flesh are still very tender though.

Happy New Year Eve and the last day of 2022.

Had a birthday lunch with my mum at Boon Tong Kee which we had been eating their separate branches near Katong for more than 20+ years. However last heard that they had already closed down their Katong branch, so got to head for their main Boon Keng outlet. Total damage is around $90++ for 4 pax with tea, rice and the above dishes. Their chicken rice is really top notch as we ordered 1 whole chicken, but felt that the chicken really became smaller as compared to more than 3 years ago. Nevertheless all the dishes were great and definitely come back again. 

To close off 2022, i personally experienced once again many up and down. But hope that 2023 will be a good year though there are already many negative factors. No matter what it is, i had no choice but to keep going on harder and put in more effort. Happy New Year Eve to all and celebrate the last day of 2022. 

Happy belated Winter Solstice Day 2022

Happy belated Winter Solstice Day 2022 ! Just to throwback to last 22 December 2022 for all who celebrate Winter Solstice which is also known as Dong Zhi Day. Everyone had arranged their own activities to either go to the temple to pray or simply had Tang Yuan home or outside. Mr Bean had been full of long queues and even after returning to the nearby mall near my place. The queue was still very long. So decided to just prepare my own tang yuan at home.

Last Quarterly purchase of 2022

Mainly just whack all the bulky stuffs and cartons of bird nest and drinks from AMK Hub NTUC Finest and get them to deliver as usual. Of course NTUC had initiate their "GST increase" for the first 6 months of 2023 so that consumers can adjust and not feel the pinch of the GST increase. Of course, i am not against on the GST increase. This might be necessary to help bring the country forward ! But of course it better to stop buying non-essential stuffs moving forward.

New Cottage & Kettle Branch @ Bugis

They had an outlet at Boat Quay. Came here for lunch as there is currently a 30% off all food items. Already had a heavy breakfast, but since there is discount, i decided to order a pizza and their unlimited servings of drinks. Pizza was ok, not that fantastic, but one thing i find it weird was the poached egg in the middle. It was quite raw, so it did give the pizza slice that i dipped in, a not so good combination of taste. However due to the price discount, it is certainly great to sit in for a fine meal. They had many other mains on their menu, so do dropped by to try it.

1 for 1 Mcdonald Breakfast Deluxe

Had ordered their 1 for 1 Macdonald Breakfast Deluxe last tuesday. One set costs $7.30 for ala carte price. So with this deal, I get to enjoy both breakfast and lunch for $3.65 each meal. They forgot to provide me with plastic utensils, oh well. The next day I went to get the same 1 for 1 and fortunately they remembered to provide me utensils this time, so its a one-off thingy. I love Macdonald's Breakfast Deluxe as it will definitely fill you up !

Added 8% GST to online purchases

Don't forget that in a few more days. Buying of online stuffs will be added with 8% GST from 0% GST in 01 Jan 2023. Of course, we had been enjoying all these online cheap stuffs for so many years. For this implementation, it is to also promote consumers or locals to purchase and support our local products more. So left a few more days to rush through your purchases asap !

Merry Christmas 2022

Merry Christmas 2022 and happy holidays to all ! For those who work through the busy holiday, hope you can find the little joy in the work. Another year had passed so fast and hope that next year's christmas will be better each year. For me, there were up and down for this past year, but this year christmas is better than last year ! 😃 Looking forward to next year's christmas !

Thunder Tea Store [Bukit Canberra]

Had this from the first day of opening. They do not operate in the morning as they only started in the afternoon and evening. The reason why this morning is open, because it is the grand opening and our minister will visit every store. Is indeed very mild and I would say is ok. The soup is plain. But overall is ok.

Pangkor Island Nasi Lemak [Bukit Canberra]

Tried this for the second day of opening and I got to say that I'm pretty disappointed with the overall order. We ordered Belachan Chicken Nasi Lemak and their Chee Cheong Fun. The presentation at the menu looks stunning, but the actual product 😕 When this was served, I asked the lady boss whether this is belachan, from the look, she is unsure about its own product and had to asked kitchen whether is there gravy for this dish. In the end, no belachan taste and it seems to be curry chicken. Quantity and quality really lose out and its pretty bad for its price. Chee Cheong Fun is very normal, nothing special about it. Probably will give one more last try some time later before deciding whether to support this further. 😞

Another small scale Drink Stall [Bukit Canberra]

Came to give equal chance and visit another drink store. This offers affordable breakfast sets with several options. Came to order one cup of Milo Kosong and one cup of Kopi O Kosong. Over at the queue counter, we order and paid according to our drinks. But the cashier tell us to tell the aunty what we want. I felt that order should be made by her for what we paid for. Its ok, we went to tell the other aunty the exact order. Kopi O Kosong already made on the table and while observing, she made the wrong milo order. I told her is Milo Kosong, then she fed up and made another. In the end, my Kopi O Kosong also wrong order and was added with sugar. Sigh maybe is still early stage, think the process need to be improved.

Kopi Tan - One of the biggest Drink stall in this hawker centre [Bukit Canberra]

On the grand opening, my Canberra Central area MP, Ong Ye Kung grace the opening and manage to get a photo of the opening there on the first day. After he left this store, get my first two cups of Milo Kosong and Kopi O Kosong. So far, is within range of market standard. 😂 They have two other drink stores when I go around. Definitely a good place to chill at.